You've probably heard of manganese nodules, those funny blobs found in the deep ocean. Remember when Howard Hughes built a ship to explore mining them, and they were going to be a great new natural resource? Turns out the whole thing was a cover story for the CIA's attempt to raise a sunken Soviet submarine. Seriously, it is now a well established fact that the Hughes Glomar Explorer was built to CIA specs, and the manganese nodules story was just as story.

The nodules are real, and they do exist in the deep ocean, I even have one, they just aren't nearly as exciting as they were made out to be. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of anything exciting to say about manganese other than this story. It's used in the Sacagawea Dollar coin?

Small lump 99.95%.
Kindly donated by David Franco, who sent many elements after seeing the slashdot discussion.Source:David FrancoContributor:David FrancoAcquired:17 May, 2002Price: DonatedSize: 0.2"Purity: 99.95%

Fine Powder.
This is a fine powder of manganese. Gets on everything. Weighs more than you'd expect for a powder. Highly toxic.Source:Mark RollogContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:20 July, 2002Price: $7Size: 0.0001"Purity: >99%Sample Group:Powders

Lots of lumps.
This is about a pound of lumps similar to the one I got from David Franco (see above). Since I know Franco sends only the very purest of samples, and since these look identical to the one he sent, I feel reasonably confident in assigning them a similar purity. They were obviously created by the same basic process.Source:eBay seller snoojContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:22 August, 2002Price: $10Size: 0.75"Purity: 99.9%

Sample from the RGB Set.
The Red Green and Blue company in England sells a very nice element collection in several versions. Max Whitby, the director of the company, very kindly donated a complete set to the periodic table table.

Sample from the Everest Set.
Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gases) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid.

Museum-grade sample.
In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings).
This vial of manganese contains 70+ grams of electrolytic manganese plate, very beautiful lustrous stuff.Source:Theodore GrayContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:24 February, 2004Text Updated:11 August, 2007Price: See ListingSize: 2"Purity: >99%Sample Group:RGB Samples

Museum-grade sample.
In early 2004 Max Whitby and I started selling individual element samples identical or similar to the samples we use in the museum displays we build. These are top-quality samples presented in attractive forms appropriate to the particular element. They are for sale from Max's website and also on eBay where you will find an ever-changing selection of samples (click the link to see the current listings).
This flame-sealed, argon-purged ampule of manganese contains 50+ grams of electrolytic manganese plate, very beautiful lustrous stuff.

I chose this sample to represent its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of.

Mini element collection.
This is a nice little set from the 1960's. The enclosed price list indicates it cost a few dollars, and the enclosed mercury sample indicates it predates current environmental concerns! Here's a picture of the whole 2-box set:

Mini element collection.
For some reason the set described in the previous sample contains two different samples of manganese, one in each box. Go figure.Source:Blake FerrisContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:15 July, 2004Price: $61/setSize: 1"Purity: >98%

Heavy lump of master alloy.
I think this is a lump (about 11 pounds) of manganese-steel master alloy. Etching with HCl (see next sample) produced an interesting dendritic structure, indicating that the material is not homogeneous. The source described it as pure manganese, but this is not likely.Source:eBay seller grandejunquetionContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:9 February, 2009Text Updated:8 February, 2009Price: $10Size: 6"Purity: <70%

Manganese oxide pigment tile.
Manganese oxide has been found used as a pigment in cave paintings from as long as 17,000 years ago. This tile is not quite that old, but according to the seller it dates to about 1800, making it a good 200 years old.Source:eBay seller chrisbuckmanContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:11 March, 2009Text Updated:12 March, 2009Price: $45Size: 4"Purity: <5%

Small lithium-manganese battery.
This small lithium cell is listed under manganese because, while everyone calls them "lithium batteries", they also have other elements in the electrolyte, in this case manganese dioxide.Source:Radio ShackContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:2 April, 2009Text Updated:7 April, 2009Price: $5Size: 0.5"Purity: <50%

Manganese Nodule.
Do you remember when manganese nodules were going to be the next great gold rush? When a great new natural resource was going to be unleashed just as soon as someone figured out how to dredge them up from the incredibly deep ocean? Did you ever wonder if there might not be some in shallower water?
Well, guess what: The whole thing was a complete fabrication. The CIA wanted to recover a Soviet submarine that had gone down in very, very deep water in the Pacific, and they needed a cover story because they knew that there was no way they could build and deploy the highly specialized kind of ship required to recover something from such great depth without the Russians (who knew exactly where their submarine had gone down) figuring out that something was up.
So they enlisted Howard Hughes, the richest man in the world at the time and a notable nutcase, to pretend that he thought these manganese nodules, which just happened to exist only at great depths, were the next big thing. He built a large, specialized deep sea recovery ship, the Glomar Explorer, and sent it to find, um, um, manganese nodules, that's right, we're looking for manganese nodules.
They actually did find the Soviet submarine and were able to recover parts of it. Eventually people forgot about the manganese nodules.
If you don't believe me, read this report on the subject:http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm
This particular nodule was recovered from 5100m of water in the central pacific by the MS Valdiva working for the Metallgesellschaft AG, Frankfurt am Main. I wonder if they thought they were going to get rich.Source:eBay seller mitryrockContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:3 June, 2003Price: $20.50Size: 1"Composition:MnNiCuCo

RbMnF3 crystal.
I don't even know what you'd call this other than by its chemical name: It's a pretty pinkish little bar of what is probably a single crystal, crudely cut and roughly surfaced, but not polished to any significant degree. It came from a batch of old samples and research materials being discarded by Ethan's university. The fact that it's translucent and colored makes me think it might be intended as some kind of laser material, whether it worked or not I have no idea. The fact that they threw it away may or may not indicate something about its usefulness.Source:Ethan CurrensContributor:Ethan CurrensAcquired:16 March, 2007Text Updated:14 October, 2008Price: DonatedSize: 1"Composition:RbMnF3

Ni-Cad battery.
A common nickel-cadmium battery. These have fallen out of favor due to the toxied nature of cadmium. Nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries are pretty much better in all ways..Source: eBayContributor:Theodore GrayAcquired:11 March, 2009Text Updated:12 March, 2009Price: $5Size: 2"Composition:NiCdMn